Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Unfortunately, due to the many idiots who are spamming my comments with religious drivel and Viagra ads, I am forced to moderate all comments. I sincerely hope this will not discourage honest posters who want to participate in this blog. Your comments are valuable to me and I read them all.

Thursday, December 03, 2009

Recently, I was contacted via email by a person named "John Richards". At first I thought he was writing as a fan of my blog, but the true intent of his email became clear pretty quickly. He wanted me to visit his website http://www.stutteringremedy.com/ where he is selling his "remedy" for stuttering which costs, you guessed it, $19.99.

He said that he cured his stutter by himself when he was 18 years old. He is now over 60 years old. But, he never thought much of his own cure until, amazingly, a little over a year ago, he "texted" his cure to a 16 year old who magically had his stutter cured in a matter of minutes! Aside from the "stuttering cure" part of all of this...in what context would a 60+ year old man have opportunity to text with a minor? Did he have the permission of this minor's parents to contact him? Doesn't "John" know of the dangers of internet predators?

As you read through the site (which is structured much the same as all the scam-cure websites) it becomes obvious that "John Richards" is educated, not in speech therapy or pathology, but rather in rhetoric, emotion and how to say a whole while really saying nothing at all.

Consider this grandiose portion:

"After years of torment and useless expensive therapeutictreatments, that 16yo cured himself of his chronic stuttering in a matter of minutes by applying my suggestion which comprised one only line of text. In those few minutes his life transformed from a dark abyss to one of usefulness, value and purpose."

Only one line of text transformed the kid's life from a dark abyss to one of usefulness, value and purpose? I suffer from stuttering and it has been difficult on my life in many ways and is certainly a constant source of frustration...but my life is *far* from being useless, without value or having a lack of purpose. On the contrary, my stutter allowed me to succeed *despite* the affliction and that has only added to my life and to the purpose that I feel my life has. If that child's life lacked purpose, usefulness and value, I suggest that stuttering is not his biggest affliction, or that stuttering is even the cause of those problems...and I think...no, I am *certain* one line of text could not have "cured" him.

I've known many stutterers in my life and none have said that stuttering renders their lives devoid of usefulness, value or purpose.

At the end of the website, you are, of course, asked to enter your credit card information and then are invited to read a two-part "hub" article on stuttering. They appear to be "informational" in nature, but he, of course, provides multiple links to his "Stuttering Remedy" website, inviting you to read more of his "elaborations" on stuttering.

Wellsphere

Welcome!

Stuttering is one of the most mysterious conditions to strike humanity and it is one of the most frustrating. Millions of people are afflicted with this condition and struggle each day to navigate their lives while feeling ostracized, made fun of, held back or just different from the rest of the world.

I am an elementary teacher and a professionally covert stutterer who chose this route for professional reasons. This does not mean that I do not accept my stutter. I accept it as much as someone who only has one leg. Some people with only one leg will use a prosthetic to look and walk like people who have two legs. I use my fluency techniques for the very same reason: to sound like fluent speakers. That is my own personal choice and story, others choose a different route and their choices are just as valid. I make no judgments in this regard.

This blog is intended to let you share in my every day experiences and also to give information that may help others learn more about stuttering and to learn more about the real people who experience it every day. Please email me if you have something to say, a story to share, or just a link you'd like me to add. sign543@gmail.com